


Venice Beach

by OlicitySmoaky



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Beach Bar, F/M, Felicity is his lobster, Fluff, OHFAT, Olicity Hiatus Fic-A-Thon, OlicityHaitusFic, Out of Place, Tumblr: olicityhiatusproject, summer fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 13:41:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11442075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OlicitySmoaky/pseuds/OlicitySmoaky
Summary: After a one night stand, Oliver and Felicity find out they are kinda into each other. Takes place in Venice Beach, CA.





	Venice Beach

**Author's Note:**

> So, @smoaked_queen on Twitter posted gorgeous pics of Stephen and Emily and suggested a story about Felicity running into Oliver at her favorite bar after a one nightstand. This is far fluffier than I meant it to be and really tooth-rotting. But I just can't help myself. It's super AU. And yeah, just enjoy!
> 
> I also used it to do one of the OHFAT prompts! I used "out of place" ...
> 
> Note: No beta. But I really wanted to post this before my family and friends descend on me for a week -- in less than an hour (and arrive a day early so like really?!) So I really hope this makes sense!
> 
> It's only labeled mature for thoughts in their head. This one doesn't go into too much smut. ;)

 

 [](http://tinypic.com?ref=1816w6)

Felicity was living in Venice Beach, CA for a six-month tech internship at Snapchat in the cyber security department, and so she would not feel out of place, she’d adopted a new look – smoky eye makeup, contacts and whatever accessory that looked closer to adorable with style than pretentious hipster. It was a mid-June day and the ocean breeze kept things cool enough for her to wear her new and soon-to-be favorite hat as she rode her bike down Washington Boulevard en route to her favorite bar – The Venice Whaler.

After sliding her two-wheeled cruiser into the closest bike rack and repositioning her backpack on her shoulders, Felicity turned to the ocean blue stucco building let out a sigh of relief. She’d never thought she’d be a regular at a beach bar right off the Pacific Ocean – in fact, she never thought she’d be a regular at any bar. But this place was laid back, the food wasn’t bad, and during the day, she could sit there and overlook the water, work on her laptop and no one would bother her for hours. And that was what she did nearly every afternoon.

“Hey, hometown girl, you ever gonna come back for karaoke night?” one of the bouncers asked as the sun started to dip and Felicity stepped through the main entrance and onto the open patio that led to the sidewalk.

“Nah, I’m not much of a night owl,” said Felicity.

The beefy six-foot four man nicknamed Vegas crossed his muscular arms across his chest. “It gets really poppin’. You could maybe meet a nice guy.”

Felicity laughed, curling her hands around the straps of her slipping backpack then hoisting it back up with a bounce. “Meet a nice guy. At a bar?”

“Hey now, there’re lots of nice guys to meet at bars,” John Diggle the head of security and part owner of the bar appeared in the doorway. His arms were even bigger than the Vegas guy’s.

“Yeah, but they’re all married, Dig,” Felicity quipped. “Say hi to Lyla for me.”

“Will do.”

She waved at the two men before sliding back on her bike and heading back to her one bedroom in the Oakwood apartments half a mile down the road. The fully furnished, temporary stay hotel style building was a might nicer than the dorm rooms in Boston. She had one month left on her internship, and she still hadn't gone through with step one of Operation Smoakin’ Smoak aka her plan to go back to Boston an experienced woman. She wasn’t exactly a virgin, but two drunken nights with that jerk Cooper in her senior year at MIT did not exactly make her feel she could call herself experienced. She was twenty-one and working on a third master’s degree for crying out loud. She needed to let loose. But meeting a guy in a bar – no.

“But you have to come,” her friend Caitlin urged from the beige sofa Felicity’s sparsely furnished living room.

“I don’t even know Iris that well,” said Felicity.

“You like her though,” Caitlin reasoned.

“Did she invite me?”

“She would if I asked her.”

“That’s not the same thing!”

“Come on. It’s just a little birthday dinner and a little dancing afterwards. Girls only.”

“I’ll go if you call her, and I hear on speaker phone that the tone of her voice is legit and not burdened by the yes that she will feel obligated to say if you use your whiny voice.”

“Deal. And I won’t even use the whiny voice—Hey, what whiny voice?”

“Just make the call or I’m keeping my plans with Ben and Jerry, mint chocolate chip 2.0.”

“2.0?”

“It has chocolate swirl mixed in.”

“That does sound good.”

Felicity lifted an eyebrow at her friend.

“Okay. Okay. I’ll call.”

When Felicity was satisfied she wasn’t a pity invite, she shooed Caitlin out so she could get ready for a night at a place called Jones’ Beach. The ladies would have dinner there – all women and then head over to a place across the street for dancing. She had the perfect dress. She’d bought it the first week she’d gotten to L.A. – short black and sassy – cut out at the shoulders, dipped low but not too low. She put her hair in curls, painted on the perfect shade of red lipstick and exchanged the smoky eyeliner she liked to wear during the day with a soft shade of green to match the awesome shoulder purse she was taking with her. 

After twelve of Iris’s closest friends finished dinner at the restaurant, they dashed over in their less than sensible shoes to a dance club called the Row House. And that was where she met him about two and a half drinks into the night.

“I will never go home with a guy I met at a bar,” she announced as lifted her credit card in the air to flag the bartender down.

“Is that so?”

Felicity turned around to see a drop dead gorgeous specimen of a man grinning down at her – so not her type. Why not her type? Because he was so…much. The eyes, the smile, the muscles, the casual cool energy that vibrated – and _O.M.G_ , he smelled really good, too. His scruffy but neatly trimmed almost beard was what was doing her in. She was never one to melt instantly for looks but her logical brain was obviously taking a vacation at the moment. “I-I-no. I wouldn’t.”

“That’s good. It wouldn’t be a safe thing to do at all.”

The bartender appeared and Felicity ordered a Lemon Drop martini. Out of nowhere extremely hot out of her league guy yelled out, “Put it on my tab, Frank.”

“You go it, Oliver,” the perfectly tan slim but muscular man in a loose tank said, sliding down to the register at the other end of the bar.

“Oh, I couldn’t accept.”

“Don’t worry about it. Frank doesn’t charge me.”

“Oh?”

“We have an understanding.”

“Oh! So, you weren’t hitting on me. You were just waiting for your boyfriend to finish his shift?”

Oliver laughed. “Not exactly…”

Something in this guy’s eyes had her really liking him. It was just his looks. Mirth and kindness danced in his eyes. Suddenly she found herself jetting out her hand for him to shake, “Felicity Smoak.”

“Nice to meet you, Felicity Smoak. I’m Oliver.”

“Just Oliver?”

He shrugged.

“Ah, so a man of mystery,” she said as Frank the bartender returned with her sugary lemon vodka concoction. “No sugar rim?” she joked.

“Fresh out of sugar, darlin’,” Frank said.

Felicity downed her second of the same drink about twenty minutes later. Oliver had yet to leave her side. Neither one of them were much for dancing, but they certainly were both interested in swapping stories.

“Tommy sounds like a bit of a trouble-maker,” Felicity was saying. “Gah, I feel so out of place here. Can I just say that right here and now.”

Oliver threw his head back on a laugh. “You can say whatever you’d like.”

“You know what place I love around here…other than the computer lab at work…The end of the Venice Pier.”

“Oh, not Santa Monica’s? It’s bigger, got the Ferris wheel and cotton candy…”

“I know, and that’s all great. But I like the quiet, the fishermen and their families, the peaceful black waters when it’s dark and the wind chills.”

“You’re a romantic.”

“Not really." She shrugged a shoulder. "It's right near by favorite bar."

“Wanna go there now?” asked Oliver.

"The bar? Not really. I think I'm barred out for the moment."

"I meant the Venice Pier."

Felicity looked hopeful. “Yeah, I’d love that. I think my friends wouldn’t mind. But before we go?”

“One more lemon drop?”

Felicity nodded, slipping her lip between her teeth.

“You know I make them way better than Frank does.”

“Oh, really now?” she teased, folding her arms beneath her chest.

“Mmm hmm.”

“Well, why don’t you get back there and show me?" 

Oliver opened and closed his mouth several times. “No…. what? You really want me to?”

Felicity nodded. “Frank’s your friend…just ask.”

To her surprise, Oliver shrugged and called her bluff. He pushed past a couple of people a few feet down and opened the hatch in the middle of the bar that would let him behind it. He acted like he owned the place. To Felicity’s even bigger surprise, when Frank caught Oliver doing what he was doing, he nodded and let him continue. Felicity watched in rapt awe as Oliver shook and stirred her drink of choice. He also found the mysterious missing sugar right beneath the counter and rimmed the glass for her. She lifted her eyebrows in surprise. He was quick. She sipped it. And God, it was delicious. “Can’t even taste the alcohol.”

By the time she was finished with her drink, she was far beyond tipsy. “Maybe we should go to the pier another night,” Oliver suggested when he came back around to join her. She tipped her head onto his shoulder.

“Hmm. Maybe. But tonight, why don’t we go back to your place?”

“Maybe I should take you home so you can get in bed.”

“Only if you get in it with me,” she whispered before inching onto her toes and capturing his lips in a kiss that made her wobbly insides soar – because damn could this guy kiss. He groaned into her mouth and was devouring her in front of a shit load of people and she did not care. “Please, Oliver?” She moved onto her tip toes and nipped at his earlobe.

“Mmm,” was his response. She didn’t think she’d had ever heard such a sexy sound. “Felicity.”

“You have your car here?” she whispered in his ear then suckled at it again.

Oliver reacted with a, “Sss. Yes!”

“I’ll just say goodbye to my friends, and…” She looked up at him through batting lashes. He was all in she could tell.

“I’ll meet you by the door.” Less than ten minutes later, Felicity was inside this incredibly hot stranger’s car, heading to—“Where are we going?”

“My place or yours?” he asked as he turned his car down Main Street.

“Whichever’s closer,” she found herself saying. She couldn’t believe herself, but she wanted him badly right now. “I’m about half a mile if that.”

“Your place it is.”

About five minutes later, they pulled up the winding curve driveway to the second-story parking lot in the back of her building. “Spots aren’t assigned, so you can park anywhere. You can get to my place faster if you just drive down a little bit.”

Oliver swooped into the spot closest to the area she pointed out, but before she could unbuckle her seat belt she felt his hand threading with hers. She turned to look at him. His eyes were hooded and his breathing a bit labored.  “You sure about this?”

Felicity bit her lip. Her random hook up was being so damned sweet. And damn it, his eyes were enough to suck the life out of her. She cupped his chin her hand and slanted her mouth over his to kiss him like she’d never kissed anyone before. When they parted, he murmured, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

She led him by the hand past the pool and the four people drinking beers in the enormous Jacuzzi catty-corner to it then and into her building where she hit the up elevator. “Third floor, huh? Three’s my lucky number,” Oliver said, making her giggle as he kissed her again and again until they reached her front door.

Felicity fumbled for the keys, then shoved the door open, but before she let him inside she had an urge to confess. “This is the first time I’ve ever done this,” she whispered, her back still to him.  

“What?” she heard him squeak from behind her. His arms wrapped around her middle and she leaned back into him. “Your first time…uh…”

She turned in his arms and pulled him in for a short kiss. “Not that. I mean, a one-night stand.”

“Is that what this is going to be?” he whispered, brushing his lips back and forth across hers. She sighed at the feel of his stubble tickling her skin.

“I think so, yeah. Isn’t it?”

He pressed his lips into a line then released it to kiss her cheek. “It’s whatever you want it to be.” He took that kiss and dragged it up the side of her face until he reached her temple. “Whatever is fine by me,” he whispered against her skin.

Felicity wasn’t sure what he meant by that. She didn’t want to read anything into anything or start fantasizing about future dates. All she wanted was to finish this night with his incredibly wonderful man she’d stumbled upon on a night she hadn’t even wanted to go out at all. She led him inside and closed the door.

***

Though Felicity’s head throbbed for most of Saturday morning, she decided to go to the local farmer’s market then spend the rest of the day watching Netflix. She couldn’t believe she’d actually done it. She went home with a guy who’d left just after dawn—granted she’d run out to get coffee at the convenience store in her building. She’d come back with two and a newspaper, but he’d obviously taken that as a cue to escape. Her heart had dipped down to the bare toes sticking out of the flip flops she’d thrown on. It was okay though. She couldn’t let herself play the daydreamer here? The night before, they’d made out for a long time, then hung out and talked and laughed and kissed some more before falling victim to a tickle war that led them to finally falling into bed. It had been the most incredible night of her life. And it was only meant to last once. That was fair even though it made her chest ache – chest aching was a part of life. She’d get over it.

As she plucked her fruit for the week from her favorite vendor, her brain filled with images of his naked muscular body, her skin conjured up memories of his touch, his soft voice, the hard yet tender way he took her over and over. How many times had it been? Four, she was pretty sure. That was also a first for her. After heading back home and settling in front of her television, Felicity nodded off promptly at 1pm. When she woke up, it was nearly 6, though was sun was still high in the sky, and felt like a new woman. She saw a couple of missed calls from two women from the HR department work, Millie and Penelope. They were not her good friends like Caitlin or even Iris, but they did like to hang out at her favorite watering hole almost as much as she did. They also wouldn’t quiz her about the guy she left with last night, a guy she was sure she would never see again. And as much as she really sort of wanted to see him again, she knew that would probably never happen, and if it did, he’d probably act like he’d never met her. It wasn’t like she was exactly his type.

She met her friends about halfway to the bar. They were so much taller than she was and exactly that type she knew might actually get a guy like Oliver to call them back after just a night. Still, she felt cute tonight in a pair of white shorts and a black lacy tank. She’d made her eye shadow smoky again and put in contacts. She felt more than cute -- she felt pretty.

The Venice Whaler had two levels, which meant two bars. The downstairs bar was in a smaller room with a few televisions that overlooked the bike path and beach beyond it. That was where they’d have karaoke and people liked to dance. Upstairs there was an outdoor deck and another bar inside. People tended to travel between bars though the music would change dramatically from place to place. Today, her friends wanted to be upstairs on the deck. They’d order dinner then mingle. They all greeted John who air kissed each of their cheeks, and opted for seafood entrees and fruity cocktails.

“So,” Millie said, sipping on her Mai Tai. “I think they’ll have him downstairs today.”

“Have who?” asked Felicity.

“The new bartender,” supplied Penelope. “Haven’t you seen him? He started here like three weeks ago.”

“I usually don’t come here at night,” Felicity said as the sun, as if on cue, began to dip behind the ocean. “Why? What about him?”

“He’s beyond gorgeous,” Millie gushed, dipping her fried shrimp into cocktail sauce. “The rumor is he’s from a really wealthy family up North, and came down here to get away from it all. The Queen family, I think."

"Oliver Queen?" Felicity's jaw dropped. She'd slept with Oliver fracking Queen last night. That couldn't be true. Queen Consolidated was where she hoped to work once she finished her degree -- that then start up her company. What were the odds? 

“Millie has designs on getting him into her bed…tonight.”

“Oh.” Felicity blushed at the idea as her mind went back to her night in Oliver’s arms. Oliver Queen's arms. Damn it. Millie and Penelope took her reaction in the wrong way.

“You need to live a little, Felicity. Banging a hot bartender is nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I never said it was.”

Millie gave her a look that pretty much made her feel like a little girl. She wanted to spill everything about the night before, but opted against it. They wouldn’t believe her anyway.

“Well, I, for one, would love to do karaoke tonight,” said Millie.

“What? No way,” said Felicity.

“He’s only on half-shifts on Saturday night. Off by like eleven or something. So sad. Let’s go.”

The place was different at night. Less tourists, more Jim Morrison wanna-bes, scruffy beach types and dot-commers. As they turned the corner, her eyes locked onto a face that immediately siphoned all the air from her lungs. “Oh no.” God, he looked even more beautiful that he had before with his dimpled smile and strong forearms working the cocktail mixer as he chatted up the couple he was currently serving drinks to. _Breathe. Yep. That’s the thing you do every second of everyday. It’s easy. In and out. In and out._ Her mantra and her mind slipping to a place that was not helping at all – starring that man behind the bar’s powerful hips and her very receptive body.

Millie was already sashaying over to the bar when Penelope stopped and turned back to Felicity as she stood there frozen. “What’s wrong, hon?”

“Nothing. I just need to use the restroom. Be right back.”

Felicity slipped around the corner to the row of bathrooms – four unisex and three just for women with several sinks and a long mirror above them. She took the far stall, the big one that was basically its own private bathroom and slumped against the wall. Felicity could not believe he was there – in her spot. That he was Millie’s mysterious bartender. What the hell? Oh God. What was she going to do? She splashed some water on her face and tried to get a hold of herself. By the time, she emerged, it was dark outside. Her eyes darted to the front of the venue, where Vegas and the other bouncers would stand in the patio area she often sat with her laptop during the day. She decided to hang out there or at least in the door frame. When she got there, Vegas and the other bouncers were nowhere to be found. It happened with things got slow sometimes. She sighed and leaned against the open double-door frame, looking up at the inky sky. She couldn’t go into the next room where her friends were, where he was. What would she say? Just she was about to tell her friends she had a headache and head home, a tall guy with a backwards cap slinked up to her and crowded her space near the door.  “Hey, sweetheart. Wanna go inside and dance?”

“Uh, not really. Just waiting for my friends.”

“Come on. Let’s go inside and get a drink.”

“I like it out here, thanks.”

“Okay, so maybe I’ll bring one out for you.”

“I don’t think the allow drinks outside unless,” said Felicity, hoping he’d just go away but instead, he crowded closer. “I’m good. Actually, I’m not interested, so…”

He leaned in a bit closer. “I think I could change your mind.”

“Felicity!” she heard Penelope’s voice cut through the unwelcome tension as Felicity stepped out of his invading space. Two seconds later the tall brunette appeared, frowning at the guy, arms crossed over her chest. “I don’t think my friend wants to talk to you.”

“Kinda told him that,” said Felicity. She didn’t need rescuing. She was a big girl.

The guy shrugged and thankfully disappeared inside. He was one of those come on too strong types who was probably used to rejection. He needed a new game. Maybe Oliver could teach him a thing or two. Oh, God. Oliver. Maybe she should go inside and just face him. What would be the big deal? She sighed.

“We’ve been looking everywhere for you. Let’s go in.”

 “I don’t know, I—“

Penelope pulled Felicity over to where Millie was leaning over the bar as Oliver poured a customer beside her a drink. When he turned around, he did a double-take before pinning his eyes on Felicity. What could only be classified as mirth filled his eyes as his mouth turned up in a smirk. Was he making fun of her? He kept staring, not saying a word, but oh, she could see the blue of his eyes darken. A sizzle of heat zipped up and down her veins then exploded in her belly. _Shizz._ He was still looking at her. Damn it, why didn’t one of them speak? She slid her eyes shut to compose herself. When she opened them again, he’d returned his attention to his irritated customer and slid him two beers. “One’s on me,” he said as the grimacing man nodded thanks to Oliver. Oh no. He was coming their way. Millie beamed. “Hey again, Oliver,” she said, not seeming to notice Oliver’s eyes kept popping back to Felicity. “You know Penelope, and this is my friend…”

“Felicity,” Oliver filled in.

“Oh, so you have met?” Millie asked, left eyebrow sky high.

Felicity’s cheeks heated. “I…um, I guess, I just forgot.”

Millie’s eyes grew wide. “Forgot? Honey, are you sure those contacts of yours are working? How could you forget this fine hunk of man?”

Oliver looked awkwardly between the three women before turning to Felicity. “Can I get you anything?”

“Lemon Drop Martini, please.”

Oliver chuckled. “Coming right up, Lemon Drop Girl,” he said with a wink. Was it possible to look that much hotter just from winking? She would remain cool. Cool. She could do cool.

"Sure thing, Oliver _Queen._ "

That had him faltering. "So, you...um, about that..."

"Taking a break from your big life to slum it with the little people?" she asked. She had no idea why she'd said it. It just came out.

"No, I just wanted a break from life. You know how that is."

"Yeah, actually, I really do." 

"I'll go make you that drink." Wow. He was getting to her. He had layers. He was sweet. But he probably wasn't into her? It was a one night stand. She had to behave accordingly. Oliver handed her his masterpiece. "On the house." He was being too nice to her. Was he flirting? He couldn't be flirting.

“You know what? Let’s dance,” Felicity suggested, turning to her friends, after she’d down the lemon-and-sugar concoction. Damn, he was good at making these – even better now that he was on his home turf. Well, her home turf really.  But was it really? She hadn’t lived there for that long either.

A bad rendition of Madonna’s _True Blue_ filled the room as an older woman took over the karaoke mic. She felt Oliver’s eyes on her during the entire dance. About halfway through the second song, the lanky guy from outside appeared behind Felicity, trying to grind at her ass. She pulled away. He pushed forward. By this time, Millie had grown bored of Oliver ignoring her and had moved on to a stocky blonde guy celebrating the night with friends from out of town.

Felicity finally had it and broke away from her unwanted dance partner. She turned to him and balled up her fists. “I’m sure your mother dropped you on your head as a baby, but no means no. Get it?” The guy frowned but kept dancing. He was drunk.

“Just a little bit more of a dance, beautiful.” He made grabby hands at her. For a moment, he didn’t actually touch her, but when he slipped his big paw around her waist and tugged her close, she shoved him back.

“Not kidding or joking, okay? I am not interested,” she finished. The guy held up his hands. “Do you ever get laid?”

“As a matter of fact,” she started but then stopped and instead locked him with an ice-cold glare.

“Whatever, lady,” he said, and slinked off to the other side of the room.

She headed to the bar and sat down on a center stool. Oliver grinned. “You fended that guy off pretty well. I was about to go over there and smash a beer bottle over his head if he didn’t leave you alone soon.”

“I’d like a glass of water,” was Felicity’s reply.

“With lemon, cherry or?”

“Two cherries,” she said. Oliver plopped two inside her drink and slid it to her. He stayed put watching her as she slurped one maraschino cherry into her mouth then the other. If she wasn’t entirely sure her mind was playing tricks on her, she would have sworn she heard a groan escaping from his parted lips.

She looked up. “Thanks,” she said quietly, her ears heating, before sipping up the cold drink.

Oliver leaned forward a bit, not quite leaning on the bar, but bracing his hands against the other side. “About this morning,” he started, pausing briefly to search her eyes before continuing. Whatever he’d been looking for, he seemed to find. “I would have stayed, waited for you to come back, but I didn’t think you wanted me to.”

Felicity shook her head and held up her hand. “No explanation needed. It was fun, but that was that, right?”

Oliver straightened, scratching the back of his neck. “I, uh…”

“You could at least pretend it was okay.”

“God, Felicity, you have no idea how okay it was…”

Just okay? Of course, she was just okay. That’s what he meant right? “Well, I’ll put you out of your misery and rejoin my friends.”

About an hour later, Felicity had been coaxed into singing the second Madonna song of the night with her friends -- _Like a Virgin_.

Millie gripped her mic and moved closer to where Oliver stood behind the bar, belting out her words in a seductive manner toward him. Oliver blushed and looked down. A pang of jealous ratcheted through Felicity. She sang the rest of the song, keeping her eyes off him until the last chorus.

 _Ooh baby_  
_Yeah_  
_Can't you hear my heart beat_  
_For the very first time?_

Damn, his eyes pierced hers with the most intense look she’d ever seen directed toward her, aside from last night when he was thrusting in and out of her as he steadied his weight on his elbows and plowed them both to an insanely blissful release.

She couldn’t stop herself from flitting her eyes to Oliver after the song was nearly over.  He looked like he was transferring over his shift to a bartender she knew well, Greg. He worked day shifts a lot. He was tall, good-looking, talented with the triple sec. But he was not Oliver. Plucking up her bravado, she decided she and Oliver should talk, maybe see if something beyond their one night tangled in her Bed, Bath and Beyond sheets was in the cards.  But before she could get there, Millie pulled him onto the dance floor. She half-expected Oliver to pull away, but he didn’t. In fact, after Millie looped her arms around his neck, he positioned his around her waist. Felicity knew she had no right to be jealous, but jealousy was an irrational beast that reared its vicious head whenever it wanted to and there was nothing she could do about it – except remove herself from the situation.

***

Oliver watched the girl from last night dash out of the door. “Shit!”

“What’s wrong?”

“I need to go. I’m sorry, Minnie.”

“Millie.”

“Right, sorry Millie. I need to talk to someone.”

“Yeah, like a shrink.”

Oliver heard her complain to her friend as he headed out to find her. Felicity was in the pizza line that served slices well past the kitchen closing from a little window outside. Before he could make it the ten feet it’d take to get to her, his boss John Diggle appeared, arms crossed firmly under his chest. “Cutting out right on time, Queen?” John looked over to where Oliver had been trying not to shift his eyes. “She’s a nice girl.”

“Who?”

“Felicity.”

Oliver focused on John with a frown. “You know her?” Oliver noticed she’d finished paying and doubled back past the restaurant then headed toward the pier, which was just across the beach parking lot that ended in front of the beach. She shouldn’t be going out there alone this late at night.

“Yeah, she’s good people,” said John, lifting his eyebrows. “Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Aren’t you going to go after her? The pier’s lit up but you know how this place can get after dark.”

Oliver did not need to be told twice. Five minutes later, he was at the end of the Venice Pier standing a few paces behind her.

“You know there are stalking laws,” she said without turning around.

Oliver took a deep breath and inched forward. “I would go, but…”

She turned around, the pizza about a quarter eaten. She tossed it in a nearby trash can, then whipped back around and headed to the very end of the pier and looked out at the water. Oliver followed her and ended up standing next to her -- not too close but definitely not too far. The stars were out tonight. The pier wasn't too crowded -- people with their families fishing, like Felicity had said when she'd been describing it to him at the club the night before and a few others speckled at the far ends but no one within talking distance. “What happened to Millie?” Felicity finally asked.

“She your friend?”

She shrugged a shoulder and looked up at him. She was so damn adorable. “You didn’t have to come out here, you know?” She turned to him.

He stepped closer. “I know.”

An old fisherman several yards away turned on an old radio. It scratched a bit before filling the night sky with Etta James’s _At Last._ Oliver knew the song. It was one of his favorites. It was like the old guy knew exactly what he wanted to say to her but knew it was far to early to speak the words out loud. It hadn't even been 24 hours. But he being with her just felt so right.

“Would you like to dance, Felicity?” he murmured. 

Her breath hitched. 

***

“Um, yes, I’d love to.” Felicity’s full and thrumming heart was in her throat. Was this real? Was he real? She wanted to be mad at him, fully decide he was a player and head back home, but how could she when he was looking at her like that? He stepped closer and slid his arms around her waist. He smelled like faded cologne, rain and man. She dropped his head to his shoulder with a sigh as his arms tightened around her.

_At last my love has come along_

_My lonely days are over_

_And life is like a song_

They swayed along with the breeze swirling over them from the black waters behind them as the soft lights of the pier lit the night. Halfway through the song, Felicity lifted her head from his shoulder and as if reading her mind, Oliver dropped his lips to hers. The kiss was tender, exploratory, sweet. When they parted, their foreheads, drawn together like magnets, caressed one another, and they both sighed. The music was enhancing the already electric moment. Felicity felt like she might float away at any minute.

“I really love talking to you, Felicity,” he said, framing her face between his hands, the dropping a short kiss on her mouth. “Being with you…” Another kiss. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone so fast…or ever really.”

“Yeah, same here,” she whispered. They kissed again – this time long and slow and deep -- as the song finally faded. When they separated, Felicity grinned. “Do you want to go to my place?”

“So very tempting, but how about I take you for ice cream?” She nodded.

“Yes, please. “

He put his arm around her. “Perfect. There’s a little shop open twenty four hours, and—“

“You presume to tell me about my neighborhood, Queen?” she teased.

He scoffed, his cheeks dimpling with an adorable smile that literally made her swoon. “Your neighborhood? You’ve been here ten months.”

“Six days vs. six months. I know you said you weren’t good at math, but…” They began back down the pier – past the fisherman and their families, the lovers and friends.

"I've been here three weeks."

"Yep. Your math sucks."

Oliver chuckled and pressed a kiss to her temple. “So, glad I found you, Miss Smoak.” She’d only told him her name once last night before all of this everything, and he remembered. He must have been thinking about her, too.

“Yeah, what took you so long?” She looped her arm around his waist and tugged him a little tighter to her.

He chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

When they settled down for their ice cream, their fingers laced together, she couldn’t help but ask, “So, how long you planning to stay in LA?” God, she hoped she wasn’t being too pushy. They’d only just begun whatever this was.

“As long as you’re here, I’m staying put,” he said. Okay, wow. Maybe she didn’t need to worry about the pushy part then.

“I like the sound of that.” She dipped her spoon into her mint chocolate chip ice cream and realized for the first time in six months, she did not feel out of place in Venice Beach. In fact, she felt like she was home. Oliver grinned and stole a bit of her mint chip. "Hey!" He had a lot to learn. "I'll let that one slide. But know never to come between me and my mint chip."

He held up his hands in mock-surrender. "Never again." He grinned. She grinned back.

Turned out that Felicity never ended up checking off that one-night stand thing from her list, but she found something she hadn’t even realized she was looking for – her one and only.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos appreciated. Comments adored. Thanks for reading!
> 
>  


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